Fourteen Boxes
by Zane's Girl- Jo
Summary: 14 Boxes. Of Lingerie. Staring @ her from their arranged places about her room. 14 seperate, matching pairs. In the grand scheme of things, she had to admit, it's only lingerie. Something nice she could wear beneath her clothes. To make her feel... sexy? Was that the right word? & all from that... & when exactly, did she care whether or not he was looking? From Zane's arrival & up.


**Fourteen Boxes**

**Rifiuto: Non Miriena**

**Summary: Fourteen Boxes. Of Lingerie. Staring at her from their arranged places about her room. _Fourteen_ _seperate, matching_ pairs in various states of dress, but still. In the grand scheme of things, she had to admit, that it was only lingerie. Something nice that she could wear beneath her clothes. To make her feel... sexy? Was that the right word? And all from that... And when exactly, did she care whether or not_ he_ was looking? Following Zane's arrival in Eureka, Season Two and up.**

"And may I say, God Bless."

She grits her teeth and accepts the dolly filled to the brim with white box after white box of fancy, frilly underwear. After tossing it all in her car, she sits and stews at work about it. The smug little smile on his face only serves to stir the pot, and more than once, she pulls out her gun and aims.

And each time, is interrupted.

In typical Eureka fashion, Carter manages to figure out what was wrong, and help restore the town's resident geniuses to their former glory- apparently, the former U.S. Marshall was only half-idiot. (Surprise, surprise.)

Although, the one thing he couldn't- and wouldn't- help with, was her current, sudden acquired array of girly underwear. That that... imbecile had bought her.

Why had she signed it again?

Oh yeah, all fourteen boxes were free. Thanks, Carter.

* * *

Fourteen Boxes. Of Lingerie.

Starring at her from their various arranged places about her room.

_Fourteen seperate, matching_ pairs in various states of dress, but still.

In the grand scheme of things, she had to admit, that it was_ only_ lingerie. Something nice that she could wear beneath her clothes. Something she could experiment with and feel what other women felt when they wore it. Confident.

Not that she wasn't- but growing up in a military family and then working along side other soldiers in the Middle East _does_ tend to douse doubt over a girl's confidence in her beauty. Maybe the underwear could... she could wear it to... to make her feel... sexy? Was that the right word?

And it was all from that... (Jackass.)

And when exactly, did she care whether or not _he_ was looking?

She didn't. She _didn't._

* * *

Girly.

She wasn't girly. She was... _not-girly_.

Girly- adj. suited or designed to appeal to young women

Lingerie- noun. underwear, sleepwear, and other items of intimate apparel worn by women; intimate apparel

Yes, she'd looked up both words in the dictionary.

She was going to kill him.

Ten pairs.

She was down to ten pairs of lingerie- and only because she'd tried one push up bra on and decided that the _last_ thing she wanted, was to be a flotation device for the next Titanic sinking. She'd- sneakily- given the four pairs of push ups to Zoe when Carter wasn't looking.

She's kept the others.

Hidden them in her closet, but still.

* * *

After much begging, it happens.

She finally agrees to go out with him.

The tan set- the first pair she tried on- once again makes its appearance when she meets Zane for Sunday brunch. She's let her hair down and wears a sundress; he gives her a red rose.

And she has to admit, he cleans up pretty nice. (Not that she noticed.)

* * *

The blue set with the white eyelet lace hugged her body the day Carter fused their feet together. She'd warned him several times not to touch the canisters (but seriously, does anyone actually listen to her?) but Carter's interest in shiny things won out, wrapping an adhesive around their legs, and leaving she and Zane together for the forseeable future.

Carter calls several times that day to see how they're doing, and she threatens that if they don't find a way to fix this, her gun will do the fixing. When she isn't yelling at Carter for his idiocy, she's glaring at Zane. They argue and gripe, until he finally tells her, "Don't look at me in that tone of voice."

(Evil, EVIL rat bastard.)

When they're finally free, she finds herself asking him out to dinner, to which he agrees- a "make up" dinner, not a "break up" dinner. He pulls her to him and kisses her silly, managing to cop a feel before breaking apart and giving her a cheeky grin. "So you _are_ wearing my presents."

Normally, she'd hit him, or pull her gun on him, but she's so looking forward to dinner, that she decide to let it go.

Dinner, and the night that follows, is worth not injuring him.

It's better.

* * *

He goes away for a month to the Arctic, and so she keeps the underwear in her drawer. But when he returns, she brings it out again, hoping for a nice, long reunion. No such luck.

He's cold and distant, and when she and Carter find him unconscious, with ice growing inside him, it's the first time that she admits to herself, that maybe...

She manages to slip into the infirmary two days later, with a box of his favorite foods and carton of rocky road. She can understand the egg salad and the olives stuffed with bleu cheese, but seriously? Toasted peanut butter and bacon? (Who's the idiot that thinks up these food combinations?)

She sits on the edge of the bed, and they talk quietly, enjoying each others' company, before he takes her hand and says tells her he loves her. All she can do is smile, and for the first time, allow the words to pass by her lips.

(Finally, she gets up the courage to say the 'L' word. Took her long enough, and he noticed.)

She's pretending not to.

* * *

She hates holidays- for one reason.

* * *

Founder's Day shoots everything to Hell.

She decides against wearing anything frilly or sexy on Founder's Day. Now, what surprises her the most, is going into work that day and finding Zane in her cell, a box of Liza's Lingerie in his hands, which he asks her to open. Expecting to find another pair of frilly, fancy underwear, she's shocked to find a small, velvet box nestled inside, and inside that, a small, gold ring. By the time she turns around, he's already on one knee, saying something about being made an honest man and making it official. And changes her fate with those three words.

"Marry me, Jojo."

Her stomach twists into knots, and she has no idea on what to say. He takes her hands and says something about saying yes. Just as she's ready to finally respond, that boneheaded Sheriff enters, and automatically, assumes they're engaged. (Do you have to be an _idiot_ to get the office of Sheriff in this town? And if so, can you _not_ tell an _important momentous_ event when you _see_ it? And maybe _leave_ to let said momentous event _happen_?)

Zane storms off, leaving her silent and with tears in her eyes. But she doesn't have time to ponder her failed relationship, because she's thrown back into 1947 Eureka that very afternoon. And her world changes from there. Oh, she's still got the lingerie, but everything else is different.

* * *

In a bad way.

* * *

She's wearing the red and black set when one of Parrish's experiments infects all of GD with uncontrolled rage. (Seriously, the man's a moron. How _exactly_ did he end up working for GD anyway?) All except Allison, Tess and Carter, that is. She pulls her gun on Carter and seriously considers shooting, and when she finds Donovan, itches to put a bullet in his skull.

Their bodies hit the wall, and she tries hard to ignore the electric jolt of the close proxminity to him. She tells herself that its the rage that's making her sick, not the feel of his body against hers, that it's the stress of the day that's making her pulse jump, not his strong hands in hers, that it's succumbing to a disease that's making her heart rate skyrocket, not the overwhelming desire to kiss him. "I'm taking him to the infirmary before I _kill. Him. Myself_."

Oh how she wishes she could.

* * *

They hate each other. They're mortal enemies. When she, Fargo, Allison, Henry and Carter returned to Eureka- a new Eureka, she finds that there was no relationship between her and Zane, and that he's dating Carter's daughter... Zoe. She chokes on the name everytime she sees them together, and tries desperately to move on. As Head of Security for GD, she ends up working closely with the man, and more than once, considers giving in and killing him to make her life easier.

She spends the majority of her time locking Donovan (she insists that an ass like him doesn't deserve to be called by his first name) in her cell for one minor infraction or another. Nine times out of ten, it's because he's done something to piss someone off.

Setting fire to Cafe Diem? So he spent a day or two (or ten) in her cell. Going after one of the nuclear psychists with a... God knows what? She doesn't hesitate to put him in a headlock. Attempting to cop a feel on her while going after one of the female astrologers? (It wasn't her fault that the button on the taser got stuck.) He did everything he could possibly think of to get her attention besides pulling her pigtails and shoving her into the dirt.

She was going to kill him one of these days and enjoy it.

* * *

Complicated.

Things only get _more_ complicated when she starts hallucinating_ her_ Zane.

It only gets worse when he gets all touchy. From brushing a stray strand of hair off her cheek to kissing her. He rakes his eyes up and down her body, and says that they belong together, even as she tries to convince herself that he's not there, and when he finally confronts her, she tells him exactly what she needs to say.

That they never fit. That they never would.

And then she throws the ring at him.

Her breath catches as he catches the ring and stares at it, before looking up at her. The straps of the tan bra she wears dig into her shoulders, and she starts to feel sick as her stomach knots in fear. After a moment, he says,

"Why do you have my grandmother's ring?"

She struggles to reply. Once he's gone, she tells herself that it's over, that she never has to think about it again.

No such luck, because he corners her days later and demands to know what they were before. In her standard, want-to-forget-this way, she chokes out 'nothing' and turns to go. Instead of letting it go, he grabs her and shoves his mouth onto hers. His hands find her waist as the kiss deepens, and slowly, they work up her back, brushing under her shirt. The soft edge of lace runs along his fingers, and he responds as she kisses him back, just as hungrily. When she forces herself to pull away, he looks at her and whispers,

"Why did that not feel like a first kiss?"

His hands are still under her shirt, his fingers following the smooth lace outline along her bra.

A bra he gave her.

In the other timeline.

* * *

When training for Titan begins, she can honestly say that she's glad he's occupied. Especially since she no longer has to see Zoe with him anymore, even though it is kind of her fault. She's not the type to sneak around, but sleeping with Donovan has its sense of danger and thrill, especially when it's under Carter's nose (And since her house has been insinerated twice- once thanks to Donovan).

("Something's going on with those two. Their either sleeping together, or something's implanted itself in both their brains and taken over.")

When she drops out of the running for Titan, she readily agrees to occupy the "brainiacs" with her little form of bootcamp. In a matter of a few short days, she sets up a course that she remembered partaking in at West Point, and silently enjoys watching the participants struggle and groan in agony as they fail at a course that she excelled at- at sixteen. She doesn't hesitate to tell them all that they are in "her lab" and that they're the "sorriest collection of community college_ rejects_ ever seen."

She gets a silent thrill from watching botanists eat grass, and excites in screaming at one trainee "What kind of mathematician can't get FIFTY?" Happy memories of her time running this course at West Point come running into her mind, and then, she wasn't surrounded by a "worthless bunch of PhDs."

And in the process, they all get to see the Sergeant that striked so much fear into the hearts of her fellow Rangers.

Well, all except for Donovan.

He pushes himself to pass her little tests; smirking and finishing her assignments before she even has time to blow the whistle. What really gets her is the push ups. When he finishes the fifty she's assigned, he doesn't hesitate to ask if there's anything else. She kneels down before him, tossing her head. The dark blue strap of her bra slips down her shoulder, revealing the lace near her breast. His eyes hungrily take in the taunting morsel before she leans close.

"I say fifty more..." She straightens. "Cupcake." She doesn't bother to hide the smirk as she continues down the line; for once, she has him eating out of the palm of her hand. And he doesn't even realize that it's one of his "presents" from the other world.

* * *

She wears the white lace set the day the Astreaus is found. Forced to cut her walkabout short because of the problem at GD, she tries so hard to restrain herself from rushing him when she and her team enter the area where the crew was being held. The sight of him struggling to hold himself up- alive- is more than she can take, and after returning to SARAH, she breaks down in relief.

The night they reunite, she wears the same set, allowing him to undress her slowly. He says nothing about what happened, and she doesn't push it. But later that night, as she lays in his arms, she can't help asking herself how they've gone from being enemies to... lovers. When she'd first arrived in this new time, they hadn't even spoken, unless it was to argue. She goes from calling him 'Donovan' to actually using his name. When did that happen?

And now. Now, she's wrapped in his arms, her body chilled yet warm, the desire they possess for each other covering them like a blanket. She glances over at the bra that lays in a crumpled mess on the floor. It was her last tie to _him_.

* * *

By the time Fargo tries to cheat grief, she's already broken in all ten sets at least twenty times.

She wears the black lingerie the day she tells Jack that she's considering leaving Eureka- and Carter, Allison, GD and even Zane behind.

("Give the guy a break, Jo. The matrix did a number on his head." She rolls her eyes as Carter tries using his father-reasoning on her)

She's pretty sure the day can't get any worse, until Fargo, Zane and Carter drop a bombshell on her.

"What's he talking about?" Zane doesn't look at her, and instead goes to Fargo.

"You and Carter were doing it in the Matrix."

She turns on Carter, who jumps back in anticipation of a blow up. _"What?"_ But instead of jumping him, she just feels sick.

When Allison confronts her at Cafe Diem and tells her not to go, she seriously considers staying. And when Zane reveals that he's jealous- and ends with "We either figure this thing out together, or we end it right now. But all this back and forth, it's killing me. I can't do it anymore."- and a quick glance at Allison and Jack, she takes his face in her hands and kisses him. "So is that goodbye then?"

Another kiss shuts him up- and tells everyone in a subtle way that she's staying.

But especially Zane.

And also, to herself.

Especially to herself.

* * *

Considering the day she's had, nothing weird should surprise her.

* * *

She enters just in time to hear the end of Allison's explanation. She glances back and forth, trying to connect the pieces.

"Hi Jojo."

A look of horror crosses her face and she covers herself quickly, in an attempt to hide the black lace bra under her white tank. "Who was in the shower with me this morning?" When Allison mentions that he didn't say who he was, she turns to him. "You _didn't_." In attempt to explain, Carter- or Zane, rather- stammers for several minutes. "Where is he?"

(I'll kill him.)

Although, discovering that Carter is in Zane's body and Zane's in Carter's body is the least of her worries. When she stops by to see him before going into surgery, she dares to bring up the morning in the shower. An awkward silence settles between them as she struggles to get the words out, but he beats her to it.

"It's the thought of you getting naked with him." (With Carter? Eew.)

"I didn't get naked with him, I got naked with _you_."

"Except Carter was in the cockpit-"

She cringes and laces her fingers together. "Okay, please, don't say cockpit. And nothing happened." He swallows, needing to voice his fears.

"But this is the way it starts, just like in the program." She climbs off the stool and sits on the edge of the bed, taking his hands.

"Listen to me. I don't care about programs, I care about you. No matter what body you're in-"

But he stops her, grabbing her face and pressing his mouth to hers. She accepts it, giving in slightly, until Jack pulls away and Allison and Zane enter.

"That better be Zane in there."

He meets her outside the infirmary after Carter goes into sugery. The first words out of his mouth remind her of her Zane- the old Zane. But then she reminds herself that _this_ Zane is her Zane now.

"Your boyfriend out of surgery yet?"

"No. And you have to stop." He sits beside her.

"Sorry. It's just been a really weird day." She swallows.

"You're the one who kissed me with Carter's mouth... and... you have to know how _crazy_ it is to be jealous of something that _never_ happened." (Even if the jealousy is kind of cute.)

He sighs, and glances down at her hands, reaching over to lace their fingers. But she pulls away. "I've been digging into the programming. The virtual Eureka we experienced in there is based on predictive algarithems of our own psychological profiles. So given the right set of circumstances, you and Carter hooking up- it's not just possible, it's probable."

She reaches over and takes his hand, playing with his fingers. "One of the circumstances was me thinking you were dead, right?" He nods. "So_ don't_ make me kill you, and you have _nothing_ to worry about." He sighs and wraps her in a tight hug. She buries her face in his chest and moves his hands under her sweater and up to her back. He gently traces the lace on her bra, and the motion seems to calm him; much like when he traces patterns on her back after sex, and thankfully, he has no idea that the bra is one he gave her.

And right now, she doesn't care.

She just cares about him.

Only him.

* * *

Neither one has much to say on the day of the disaster drills.

When Dr. Clark decides to give all of GD a worst-case scenario test, she finds herself on the wrong end of excuses and lies. And the majority come from Zane, who's being far too secretive about something. So when she confronts him about messing with the matrix again, she plays the one card she knows will get him to heel.

"Do you _ever_ want to have sex again?"

"A lot... I'm helping out a friend." When she tells him that she needs to get down to the agression lab, he asks where they stand on the sex.

"It's... not looking good." She says before rushing off. (And if they survive this, she's going to kill him for hiding this from her.)

Or, she might kill him before.

Yeah, before sounds good.

* * *

Actually, before the crisis sounded better. But she let him live, and by the time Feynman Day rolls around, she's starting to regret it. She's the first to make it to work and the first to discover that the pranks have already begun. Having given them all a list of approved pranks the day before, she's not too happy to find some of the pranks- unapproved- taking place. (_Foam party in the detergent lab? Seriously?)_

When Zane sneaks up behind her and tells her to lighten up and he gives her a small list of things discovered by way of prank, she's ready to strangle the man. When he tells her she's squashing the potential, she snaps at everyone, telling them that an unapproved prank will be subject to unapproved discipline.

As she turns to go, she discovers laughter and stares at her expense. She instantly turns to Zane. He's got the same smirk on his face that he gets when he knows something she doesn't. She hates that smirk. And then he chokes out a laugh before giving her a straight face.

"It looks like someone's treated you clothes with nano fibers from the metamaterials lab." He pulls a roleplaying whip out of his back pocket and hands it to her. "Bring on the unapproved discipline."

She takes the whip and slaps him hard on the arm, before storming to her office.

But what really pisses her off though, is when she finds Fargo's office fishbowled. (NO! NO! _NOT APPROVED_!)

Larry narrowly floods the place, only because she stops him in time. He shrieks, and she grabs the PA. "Anyone caught perpetrating a prank- authorized or not- will be spending the night in lock up."

Zane responds, telling the others to continue with the pranks and when she tries to cut him off, all he says is, "By the way, you're lookin' smokin', Lupo."

In a matter of minutes, she feels the familiar leather that engulfs her body, the tight, longsleeved top pushing her breasts up, despite the fact that she got rid of all the pushups a timeline ago. The thigh-high heeled leather boots pinch her toes, and she can't help noticing the wide belt at her small waist. But it's her breasts that freak her out the most- the undone zipper at the neck, exposing her breasts and the slight flash of the black lace along the top of her bra.

As she storms to her office to change, it dawns on her who's behind her constantly changing wardrobe.

"Donovan."

(I repeat, rat bastard.)

Several things get broken once the door closes, and she plots the best way to get back at him without killing him.

* * *

She's startled to come to work and find Carter with a... well, a brain. A brain that only manages to make her job harder.

She manages to stop Andy from putting the town at risk with electrical overcharge, only to nearly lose her own life in the process- to Andy draining the electricity from her car. (Okay, so maybe grabbing the door handle wasn't the brightest idea at the time, but how was she to know he'd _suck_ the electricity out of the vehicle?) When she wakes up in the infirmary an hour and a half later, Zane is sitting by her side, holding tight to her hand, waiting for her to regain consciousness.

He gives her a small smile, kissing her hand quickly. "You scared me there, Jojo."

"I... I'm sorry..." She looks down, finding herself in hospital clothing.

"They had to cut your clothing off. I almost lost you, Jojo." He says, looking up as Allison comes to check her vitals. "When Allison told me that Andy had..." He shivers, a look of pain crosses his face. "I love you, Jojo."

She gives him a small smile. "I love you too."

("Was that blue bra one I gave you?" He asks later. She ignores the scream of monitors as she gets up and slugs him.)

* * *

On the day of Holly's funeral, her former Army Commander, Major Shaw, comes to install the new PanOp Security System. The black lace bra and underwear are appropriate for the funeral, but the most uncomfortable, due to the underwire digging into her skin. It's more uncomfortable than the other underwires, and she struggles to keep from adjusting it during the service.

At the rememberance reception, Zane says that he doesn't know what he'd do if he lost her. She reaches over and takes his hand.

"You'd swear off other women for the rest of your days."

He chuckles and nods, noticing her fidgeting. She says it's nothing major and kisses him quickly, before joining Shaw to find Fargo.

She spends the rest of the day trying not to rip the bra off- complicate that with Zane hiding something from her (especially when she put them on full disclosure)- and she's itching to shoot something. Or someone.

When Shaw shows her how to run the security cameras for PanOp from her office, and she realizes something's up and that Allison and Zane have helped Fargo, she has no choice but to arrest her friend. The wire digging into her skin only makes her more irritable in an already bad day.

("If you want me to be honest don't ask questions you don't want the answers too, Jojo.")

Though she finally realizes that she can't keep fighting against her friends if she wants to keep GD safe. So when Shaw tells her to follow her orders, she pulls the plug (literally) on PanOp, before locking herself in her own cell (Better than being tasered with her own gun). She sits in the cell, stewing about the last eighteen hours, and finally removes the bra, balling it up and stuffing it in the corner. And it's where Zane finds her three hours later, once everything's calmed down.

"You want to know the truth? Prison looks good on you."

"And now my day is complete." She replies, sarcastically.

"Also, you look about a thousand times hotter with your hair down. And I... _really_ don't like that chili you make, but I know it's your dad's recipe, so I just shut my mouth on that one-"

"Now is _not_ the time, Zane." (Although, I agree about the chili.) She replies, standing and going to him- or as close to him as her cell doors will allow.

"Just one last piece of honesty. You put your ass on the line for Fargo today. For all of us."

"Well a lot of good that did me." He reads her the report GD has sent out, and he shows her the diagrams that accompany it.

"Look, I agreed to be honest with _you,_ not that DOD asset."

When Zane joins her and Allison on the rotundra, watching Fargo, she can't help but feel like she forgot something. "And by the way, Allison, you look smokin' today." He glances at Allison.

"Honest with me. _With. Me_." She says, her hands on his waist as she turns him from the doctor. She slips her arm around his and drags him off to get dinner as Carter makes his way towards them. As they make their way to the parking lot, she suddenly remembers what she forgot.

The balled up bra in the corner of her cell.

They catch dinner at Cafe Diem, and then spend several minutes in the car, sharing kiss after kiss, before heading back to his apartment. They tumbled onto the sofa, undressing each other, never breaking the kiss. As his hands slip under her blouse, she pulls away. "Crap."

"What?"

"I... I took... my bra off after I was locked in my cell because it was driving me nuts." She says, blushing.

"One of the ones I gave you?" He asks. "You kept them?" She nods. "All fourteen?"

"Ten. I got rid of a few." She pulls away and runs her hands up his chest. "At first, I didn't care whether or not you were looking, but now..." She bites her lip. "Now I do care. Because I love you."

He gives her a small smile, and takes her cheek in his hand. "Honestly, I don't care about the lingerie anymore. I care about you. I love you, Jojo." She breaks into a huge grin and kisses him.


End file.
